What is he thinking...

Do you ever wonder what could possibly be going through your child's mind? I marvel every day at my son. I can just see the neurons firing off and connections being made in his brain. First it started when he was able to put food in his mouth on his own. I bought Gerber Puffs when he was about 9 months old. He was pretty quick to learn how to pick them up and bring them to his mouth. Most babies that I know also put everything else in their mouths when they learn this skill. I am surprised that my son doesn't. He rarely puts things in his mouth, even when he is teething. I think I saw him pick up a stray piece of paper from the floor and put it in his mouth once. I rushed to him yelling NO NO NO NO. But I was too late and had to pry his mouth open to get it out. Since that time I haven't seen him even try to eat anything unless it is really food. I guess I have seen him try to eat dog food but I catch him in the act. So how does he know what is food and what isn't without putting it in his mouth? I wonder what he is thinking.

I am also amazed at his verbal skills. His babbling has definitely evolved. He now carries on conversations in some language that he understands. I answer back to him pretending I know what he is saying. Yesterday we went to my parents house to visit and watch football. He just talked non-stop to anyone who would listen, including his toys. He LOVES the phone and goes crazy whenever it rings. When I am home and try to get him to listen to the person at the other end of the line, he is more interested in grabbing the phone and playing with it. Yesterday while we were there, my father called his mother - my son's great-grandmother. She lives all the way across the country and has never seen my son in person. My father held the phone to my son's ear and he listened intently, never even tried to grab the phone. He would say words (i.e. deedee dada, bubba, etc). It was as if was mesmerized by her voice. Then I realized she was probably speaking Spanish to him (her and my father's first language). He was probably listening to a language he has never heard before and was fascinated. I wonder what he was thinking.

And most amazing of all is his ability to try to resolve something. The other day I was watching him and he was playing with a toy. I don't know what toy it was but it was like a long, skinny tube. My end tables in my living room have vertical wooden slats, about an inch apart. He put the toy through one of the opening and it rested there in the bottom shelf of the table. So he could see if through the opening but it didn't fall all the way to the ground. For the next 15 minutes he tried to get that toy. He was very patient, never getting frustrated. He tried to get his little fingers through, he tried to get his whole hand through. He looked at it at different angles. Then I saw him tear his gaze away from the toy and look all around him as if he thought it might have gotten out on its own. Then he saw another toy, skinny enough to fit through the opening. He got that toy and was using it as a tool to get the other one out. I couldn't believe that he realized that using another object could help him get something out of its hiding place. It didn't work but I was proud of his effort. I wonder what he was thinking.